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The Ark Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ark Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$158k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$32k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Health$21kEducation$14kArts & Culture$11kHousing & Shelter$4kHuman Services$4kEnvironment$4k
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$31,600
Median grant
1
States reached
$162k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST$31,600
WILDERNESS WORKSHOP$31,600
MOUNTAIN RESCUE ASPEN$31,600
ROARING FORK CONSERVANCY$31,600
VALLEY VIEW FOUNDATION (CANCER CENTER)$31,600
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 26% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY CO CHAMPIONS OF HOPE GALA: $5k → 6%WASHINGTON CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $4k → 11%EMMA NORTON RESIDENCE: $4k → 14%DONORS CHOOSE: $14k → 17%ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST: $32k → 6%ROARING FORK CONSERVANCY: $32k → 7%WASHBURN CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $4k → 11%TWIN CITIES PUBLIC TELEVISION: $4k → 14%WILDERNESS WORKSHOP: $32k → 6%NORTH MEMORIAL HEALTH FOUNDATION: $12k → 11%MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO: $4k → 14%ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST: $4k → 6%MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO: $2k → 14%MOUNTAIN RESCUE ASPEN: $32k → 6%TWIN CITIES PUBLIC TELEVISION: $2k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

21%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$46k · 3 repeat orgs$169k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
6

Total granted

$46k
$43k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+0%
+31%

Still filing today

100%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 20% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $126k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentArts & CultureHealthPublic Safety & DisasterEducationHousing & ShelterOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • AV
    ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST
    2× · 2021–2025 · $35k · revenue -22%
  • TC
    TWIN CITIES PUBLIC TELEVISION INC
    2× · 2021–2024 · $6k · revenue +2%
  • MP
    MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA
    2× · 2021–2024 · $6k · revenue +0%

Funded once

  • D
    DONORSCHOOSEORG
    one grant, 2022 · $14k · revenue -19%
  • NM
    NORTH MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $12k · revenue -10%
  • AC
    AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY CO CHAMPIONS OF HOPE GALA
    one grant, 2024 · $5k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Minnesota Land Trust

The minnesota land trust protects and restores minnesota's most vital natural lands in order to provide wildlife habitat, clean water, outdoor experiences and scenic beauty for generations to come.

Environment
2
Conservation Minnesota

Conservation minnesota's mission is to turn our shared conservation values into state priorities and provide you with the information you need to make decisions for your family, community and future.

Environment
3
Community Radio for Northern Colorado

Community radio for northern colorado's (crnc) mission is to strengthen our community by cultivating the mind and spirit - informing, inspiring, and entertaining. crnc strives to meet its mission by operating two public media services -…

Arts & Culture
4
Rocky Mountain Wild

Rocky mountain wild works to protect, connect, and restore wildlife and wild lands in the southern rocky mountain region. we work to secure the biodiversity of the mountains, plains, and desert ecosystems of colorado, wyoming, utah, and…

Environment
5
Public Broadcasting of Colorado Inc

To deliver meaningful news, music, and cultural experiences to everyone in colorado using the power of the human voice in all its forms

Arts & Culture
6
Minnesota Business Partnership

The minnesota business partnership's mission is to maintain a high quality of life for all minnesotans by ensuring that the state's economy remains strong, globally competitive and its prospects for growth bright by working with elected…

—
7
American Public Media Group

To perform activities that provide economies of scale and coordination of related companies in a manner that best accomplishes the exempt purposes of its supported 501(c)(3) organizations minnesota public radio (mpr) and southern…

Arts & Culture
8
Minnesota Medical Association

To be the leading voice of medicine to make minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.

—
9
Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota

The parks & trails council of minnesota exists to acquire, protect and enhance critical lands for the public's use and benefit.

Recreation & Sports
10
The Jmt Wilderness Conservancy

Working to restore the watersheds, wilderness, and wildlife in the high sierra nevada following the john muir trail (est. 1915) for all life in california.

Environment
11
The Montana Land Reliance

The mission of the montana land reliance (mlr) is to partner with landowners to provide permanent protection for private lands that are significant for agricultural production, fish and wildlife habitat, and open space.

Environment
12
Minnesota Environmental Partnership

The minnesota environmental partnership is a coalition that strengthens member effectiveness and builds collective power to secure a healthy environment for all minnesotans.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Aspen Valley Land Trust; the most unlike its peers is Emma Norton Services. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 13 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WILDERNESS WORKSHOP: $31,600 · OtherWILDERNESS WORKSHOPVALLEY VIEW FOUNDATION (CANCER CENTER): $31,600 · OtherVALLEY VIEW FOUNDATION (CANCER CENTER)NORTH MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $12,000 · OtherNORTH MEMORIAL FOUNDATIONAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY CO CHAMPIONS OF HOPE GALA: $5,000 · OtherAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY CO CHAMPIONS OF HOPE…WASHINGTON CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $4,000 · OtherASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST: $35,100 · EnvironmentASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUSTROARING FORK CONSERVANCY: $31,600 · EnvironmentROARING FORK CONSERVANCYMountain Rescue Aspen Inc: $31,600 · Public Safety & DisasterMountain Rescue …DONORSCHOOSEORG: $14,000 · EducationTWIN CITIES PUBLIC TELEVISION INC: $5,500 · Arts & CultureMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $5,500 · Arts & CultureEMMA NORTON SERVICES: $4,000 · Housing & ShelterWashburn Center for Children: $3,500 · Health
Other$84,200Environment$66,700Public Safety & Disaster$31,600Education$14,000Arts & Culture$11,000Housing & Shelter$4,000Health$3,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST: $35,100 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMountain Rescue Aspen Inc: $31,600 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $14,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $12,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTWIN CITIES PUBLIC TELEVISION INC: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEMMA NORTON SERVICES: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWashburn Center for Children: $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Ark Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ark Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 13 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Ark’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home